UNESCO - MAB Brand & Story Toolkit

UNESCO MAB Brand & Story Toolkit
A guide to engaging people and telling our powerful story
inspire a positive future
by connecting people
and nature today

Thank you
This guide and toolkit was made possible by the
support and help of several passionate people
across the UNESCO MAB Council and EuroMAB
network.
Special thanks to our pilot biosphere reserves:
Guy Pustelnik - Bassin de la Dordogne
Raphael Michau - Bassin de la Dordogne
Roland Thielke - Bassin de la Dordogne
Maryann Harris - Dublin Bay
Leslie Moore - Dublin Bay
Jaione Lanborena - Urdaibai
Paula Caviedes - Urdaibai
Debbie Pella-Keen - Niagara Escarpment
Lisa Grbinicek - Niagara Escarpment
Danielle D’Silva - Niagara Escarpment
Bohdan Wynnycky - Niagara Escarpment
… and all the fantastic people we met in biosphere reserves
across the network who took part in our working sessions.
And to the Brand & Story Advisory Group:
Arne Abrahamsen
Jeff Bectell
Vanja Debevec
Ian Dennison
Cliff Drysdale
Eve Ferguson
Rich Howarth
Peter Kaland
Toomas Kokovkin
Pernille Kristiansson
Martin Price
Antonio San Blas
Carina Wettemark
Martin Price
Lisen Schultz
Pavlo Cherinko
Hiroyuki Matsuda
UNESCO MAB - Brand & Story Toolkit Page 2 of 45

Contents
The opportunity
How can a common approach help to engage
people in biosphere reserves?
Using this guide
How will you learn from the guide and what will
you find inside?
Our story framework
What is the purpose, values and story of the
biosphere reserve and the MAB network?
Tools to engage
How can your create your own engagement plan?
Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
What common questions does the network have
about our approach?
Page 4
Page 8
Page 12
Page 27
Page 40

1 The opportunity 2 Using this guide 3 Our story 4 Tools to engage 5 Tips & FAQ
The opportunity
How can a common approach across the network help to engage people in biosphere reserves?
Brighton & Hove and Lewes Biosphere, UK
and nature today

The case for a common
approach
The UNESCO MAB programme and network is a
fantastic idea. We connect people and nature in
hundreds of places around the world. Our cultures
and languages are diverse and different - yet we
share a common purpose and vision. And we have
one story that we can all tell.
The MAB Council has identified communication as
a key strategic opportunity. There are great
examples of communication in the MAB, but we
can be better at engaging everyone across and
within our network on what a biosphere reserve is
and why its important. We can use new techniques
to bring people on the journey with us, and find
more ways to inspire others to be involved.
Consumer brands are exceptional at building
relationships. They are in our homes and in our
lives. We not only understand clearly what they do
for us, but why they fulfil a need.
Brands also have a consistency in how they tell
their story. Their communications aim to create
conversations, to bring people in and engage
rather than simply broadcast their messages.
We can take inspiration from brands and the best
environmental campaigns to help every biosphere
tell a consistent, powerful story. This guide is one
step to a common approach for the MAB.

Objectives for this guide
This guide is for anyone who engages people in
biosphere reserves across the MAB network.
Our aims for the guide are:
To inspire a new and consistent way of
communication for UNESCO biosphere reserves
To build confidence across the network in
connecting with audiences in a more strategic way
by creating engagement plans
To encourage the network to share best practice
and learning

How we worked together
The biosphere reserve brand and story has been
developed by the network, for the network. We
used an advisory group and four pilot biosphere
reserves to create the content and to test our
approach. Each pilot has agreed to implement an
engagement strategy from the toolkit.
The Brand & Story
Advisory Group met
in Paris to shape the
foundations of the
brand
Members of the
MAB council were
interviewed to get
their insight to the
brand story
Four pilot biosphere
reserves stepped
forward to support
the toolkit and help
to build the approach
The Brand & Story
Advisory Group
gave feedback to
the pilot work
We launched
the guide at
the EuroMAB
conference in
Estonia
As we learned along the journey, we adapted the
content. We translated the story into French and
Spanish to test how language might impact on
meaning. And we made the tools easy by creating
content that anyone in the network could
download and use immediately.
October
2014
November
2014
Nov 2014
to Feb 2015
March to
April 2015
May
2015

Using this guide
How will you learn from the guide and what will you find inside?
Biosphère du bassin de la Dordogne, France
and nature today

How to use this guide
This guide will help you to understand the MAB
biosphere reserve brand and story, and to create
your own engagement plan.
Read through the
entire guide to get a
good understanding
of the brand and
story. Look for ways
you might change the
story you are telling
now.
Download the
presentation deck and
session worksheets -
you’ll find the link
here and in the
relevant section in the
guide.
Invite a group of
stakeholders and host
a session to build your
engagement plan
with your audiences.
Or run a session with
your team to come up
with new ideas.
Implement your
engagement plan,
and share the learning
with the rest of the
network on the
communication
platform https://
teams.unesco.org
Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4:

What you’ll find inside
We have designed this guide to be as easy to use
as possible.
There is a navigation bar at the top to help you
through the guide.
There are tips and tactics throughout the guide to
help you learn quickly.
Use the links to download presentations and
worksheets for the toolkit.
We have included case studies of our pilot
biosphere reserves to help inspire you to create
your own engagement plans.
Use the navigation bar to see
where you are in the guide
Tips
Look out for the tip arrow to give you
ideas and point you to resources
We’ve included
implementation
examples and
outcomes from
stakeholder sessions
from our pilots

Telling your own story
Biosphere reserves across the network are already
doing a great job at communicating. Each
biosphere reserve is unique and has their own
story - this guide is designed to give you a
common framework and foundation to talk about
the MAB network and biosphere reserves idea.
You are invited to review the story that you are
telling about your biosphere reserve, and use the
guidance to make your story even more powerful.
Review the Our story section to find
recommendations on common content that every
biosphere reserve can include when explaining the
network.
Making an engagement plan
with your stakeholders
The guide sets out a new approach to
communication that encourages you to create
engagement plans by asking your stakeholders to
participate in the process.
This method is highly effective as it ensures that
you are acting strategically and have taken
stakeholder voices under consideration before you
communicate.
We use the word “engagement” because it better
reflects our values of involving and connecting
people to the biosphere, rather than simply telling
them about it. Visit the Tools to engage section to
find out more.

Our story framework
What is the purpose, values and story of the biosphere reserve and the MAB network?
Urdaibai Biosphere, Spain
and nature today

A brand for the biosphere
reserve
The UNESCO biosphere reserve brand has been
created based on a very simple concept. Designed
by Simon Sinek, the WHY-HOW-WHAT framework
helps to structure the way we communicate about
biosphere reserves.
This section explains the brand framework, and
gives you some guidance on how the pieces fit
together to tell a more powerful story about the
biosphere reserve and the network.
At the end of the section are some things to
remember when telling your own story.
“People don’t buy what you
do - they buy why you do it”
- Simon Sinek

Biosphere reserve brand: What it gives us:
WHY
Our Purpose
The "North Star" of
the biosphere reserve
The core of communication - the
consistent understanding of why
biosphere reserves exist and are
important to people
HOW
Our Values
Describes our unique way
of doing things
The behaviours common
to every biosphere reserve
WHAT
Our Proposition
Describes the biosphere
reserve and the network
The easy to remember, relevant
and engaging way to describe
what a biosphere reserve is and
what the network does
HOW
WHAT
WHY

Our purpose
The purpose statement sets out
why a biosphere reserve and the
network exists. It is core to our
story and to inspiring all
audiences about UNESCO’s
programme and your biosphere
reserve
Inspire a positive
future by
connecting people
and nature today

Our purpose
There is meaning behind the
words in our purpose statement.
The words have been carefully
chosen to reflect what we want
our story to convey.
Inspire a positive
future by
connecting people
and nature today
Our role is to use the power of
science and the wonder of nature
to inspire change
We’re making this future real now
and everyday
From our network to our sites, our
role is to reconnect people and the
economy with their environment
The impact we have is to create a
secure future that we can look
forward to

Our purpose
Our purpose outlines the role that
we play in solving one of
sustainable development’s biggest
issues - disconnection between
people and nature.
Life is an amazing series of connections.
Between people, between people and
nature, between knowledge and action,
across time and place.
If these connections break, we put our
collective quality of life at risk. If we keep
them strong, we build a future that inspires
us.
UNESCO biosphere reserves connect people
and nature to inspire a positive future today.
Biosphere reserves are
about connection
Tip
You can use this text as a simple way
to help people understand our
purpose.

Our values
We have four core values that
describe the behaviours of the
network and how a biosphere
reserve works.
Champion life
The “celebration” value
We celebrate people and nature
Empower people
The “participation” value
We enable participation
Model solutions
The “innovation” value
We explore new ways everyday
Belong together
The “collective” value
We are part of something bigger

Champion life
We create the conditions for people and nature
to thrive together.
We believe that people’s wellbeing and the health
and diversity of nature are inextricably linked.
People are a part of their environments which have
in turn been shaped by local cultures.
So we find ways to celebrate and advance culture,
nature and economy together.
Empower people
We are a movement of people building a future
that we can trust.
We know that people are most powerful when
they are informed, inspired, and have the tools to
make change happen.
The only way to build a future that is self-sufficient,
secure and happy is to help people believe it is
possible, and help them to make it happen.
This is the “celebration” value. It reminds us that
biosphere reserves are about the diversity of life and
to find ways to champion people, environments and
economic development together.
This is the “participation” value. As a network we
need to inspire action in others. This value reminds
us to get people involved.

Model solutions
We explore new ways of living everyday that
solve global challenges.
Our solutions are built on a strong scientific
foundation and understanding of local cultures,
traditions and ecology, which we translate it into
actions everyday.
This allows us to make the most of local expertise,
and live in a way that tackles global challenges. By
doing this, we model the future we want to see.
Belong together
Our success depends on the strength of the
relationships we create.
It’s these powerful connections that mean we can
achieve outcomes together that we could not
achieve alone and be part of something bigger.
Connecting people across disciplines, cultures and
borders. Reconnecting people to each other, and
to nature. Connecting the values and heritage
from our past with hopes we have for our future.
This is the “innovation” value. Biosphere reserves
are places were sustainable development is
happening now in our way of living. We are an
example.
This is the “collective” value. It is a reminder that
we are about connections and that we cannot be
successful without great relationships inside and
outside of our network.

About people, by people, for people
A vehicle for people to organise around
Connect people across the world
Connecting culture, nature and economy
Understand heritage, create future
Explore better solutions in practice
Ways of living, not only ways of conserving
Shared values and language
Fuelled by passion
Biosphere reserves are:
Features
In listening to people across the
network, we outlined the common
features of biosphere reserves:

Place and network
Because we are a place with a way
of living, and a network around
the world, we need to be clear
about how we describe ourselves
A UNESCO biosphere reserve is
a place where people share a way
of living with nature that builds a
future we’re proud of.
The UNESCO biosphere reserve
network connects communities
around the world who are
pioneering a positive future for
people and nature.
Tip
You can use this text when you need
to differentiate between the biosphere

The biosphere brand
WHY
Our Purpose
The "North Star" of
the biosphere reserve
HOW
Our Values
Describes our unique way
of doing things
WHAT
Our Proposition
Describes the biosphere
Inspire a positive future by connecting
people and nature today
Champion
life
Empower
people
Model
solutions
Belong
together
A UNESCO biosphere reserve is a place where
people share a way of living with nature that
builds a future we’re proud of

Example: A biosphere
reserve story
This story to explain the bassin de la Dordogne
biosphere reserve does a great job of
integrating the purpose of the biosphere
reserve, our values and our proposition.
Nous pensons que la Dordogne et l'ensemble des
cours d’eau qui l’alimente représentent un
élément fondamental de la vie des populations du
bassin. Quoi de mieux qu’un fleuve pour
comprendre la solidarité nécessaire entre l’amont
et l’aval ? Entre son propre petit ruisseau et
l’ensemble du bassin hydrographique ? Entre la
nature et les hommes ? Entre le passé, le présent
et l’avenir ?
We believe that the Dordogne and all of its
connections represent the fundamentals of life for
everyone in the river basin.
What better metaphor than a river to make clear
links between life upstream and downstream?
Between a river’s own small creek and the
watershed that surrounds it? Between nature and
people? Between the past, the present and the
future?

Example:
Introducing the
biosphere
reserve
Niagara Escarpment
biosphere reserve used the
key messaging from the
biosphere brand on a
display stand created for a
conference on biodiversity.

Remember:
Start with WHY
Our purpose is important to inspire people on the
story of UNESCO MAB and the network.
We have one purpose
The purpose of the biosphere reserve and the
network are the same - we are the biosphere!
Our values make us special
The behaviours common to every biosphere
reserve make us special and will help people
understand what to expect from the network.
Biosphere reserves are about people
Telling personal stories helps people to connect.
Always put people in the picture when talking
about the biosphere reserve.
Blekinge Archipelago, Sweden

Tools to engage
How can you create your own engagement plan?
Dublin Bay Biosphere, Ireland
and nature today

The big shift
The way we tell our story can
change to more effectively
engage people on what a
biosphere reserve is, why it is
important to them and how they
can get involved.
Consider each of these shifts
when you are creating your
engagement plans.
Broadcast
Explain
Place
Facts
Regulation
Conversation
Inspire
People
Stories
Opportunity
Changing how we engage:
Less talking to, more talking with
Less words and justification, more inspiration and images
Less geography, more human
Less data sharing, more storytelling
Less about things people can’t do, more about what they can

Creating a plan with your
stakeholders
An important step forward for communication of
the UNESCO MAB and biosphere reserves is our
shift from talking to stakeholders to engaging
them in conversation.
This ethos is in our values and our approach to
creating engagement plans. Building strategies
with your stakeholders is the most effective way of
considering their needs and getting them on-
board with your objectives.
This section sets out an approach and a set of
tools to help you create an engagement plan by
bringing stakeholders together in one session.
Stakeholder workshop, Dublin Bay Biosphere Reserve

Set expectations
Explain why the participants have been invited
and how their help will support better
engagement in the biosphere reserve
Agenda for a stakeholder
session
Follow this agenda for arranging and running your
stakeholder or team planning session.
You will need a facilitator to hold the agenda and
keep participants energised and to time.
See the FAQ section for some tips on who to
invite to your sessions.
Share the brand story
Tell participants about the biosphere
reserve brand purpose and values, and give
them time to ask questions
Agree objectives
Use the Objective worksheets and ask the
group to agree on engagement objectives
for your biosphere reserve
Make a plan
Divide the participants into small groups and ask
them to use the worksheets. Have them share
what they have made at the end of the session

Session part 1:
Setting expectations
The opening of your session should be about
setting the context and the desired outcomes for
the day. Thank participants for coming to the
session, and let them know what you want success
to look like.
Asking them what they what to get out of the
session is a great way to involve them right away
and have the group align on expectations.
Tip
Use a flip chart and write down the
expectations that your participants
have. It shows you are listening!
In this part of the session,
ask participants:
“What is the one thing you
would like to make sure we
achieve by the end of the
session today?”

Session part 2:
Share the brand story
We have a great story to tell, but it might be one
that your stakeholders have not heard before.
Use the Brand & Story presentation deck to share
the new story with participants - including our
purpose, values and proposition.
Allow plenty of time for this section to give
participants time to ask questions.
Tip
Give space to listen and allow questions
without being defensive. Our approach to
storytelling might be new to stakeholders.
ask participants:
“What is different about our
brand story to what you
have heard before about
biosphere reserves?”

Session part 3:
Agree objectives
It is crucial to be very clear about what you want to
achieve by engaging people on your biosphere
reserve. This helps you target your engagement
efforts more effectively - resulting in greater
impact and less wasted resources.
Getting participants aligned on a set of objectives
helps them to work towards a common goal
during your session.
Tip
You may want to help participants to give
you ideas by sharing some goals that you
have for engagement.
ask participants:
“What are we trying to
achieve by engaging people
on the biosphere reserve?”

Example: Urdaibai
Biosphere Reserve
Engagement Goal:
Show people that
Urdaibai biosphere
reserve is a better
way of life
Create a positive picture of
the opportunity that being a
biosphere creates, to
overcome the feeling of
restrictions.
Celebrate local people, places
and products to increase pride in
Urdaibai and to develop a sense
of identity that connects people
in the region.
Encourage others to share and
celebrate their positive experiences
of the biosphere reserve.
1. See the
opportunity
2. Celebrate local
3. Share the story
The Urdaibai pilot recognised the
challenge that residents in the
region had a poor understanding
of the benefits of the biosphere
reserve. Their solution was to
create a sense of identity through
three tactical steps.

Session part 4:
Make a plan
Ask participants to split into smaller groups to do
an exercise that helps them step by step to build
an engagement plan.
Download the worksheets, and print off enough
copies for each group. The instructions are on the
worksheets but will find it beneficial to explain how
to fill in the worksheet to each group.
Tip
You may want to circulate around the groups
and answer any questions they have as they
complete the worksheets.
You might find it useful to review the sample
worksheets in the Tips & FAQ section of the guide
so you can familiarise yourself with the kinds of
outcomes you can expect from participants.
Once the worksheets have been completed, bring
the participants back together.
Ask each group to present their completed
engagement plan.
The result will be several engagement plans that
target different audiences - all under your
engagement objective - allowing you the
opportunity to choose which one to implement.

Step 1:
Engagement plans
Engagement consists of four key areas.
The worksheets ask participants to consider each
of the areas and build one plan
Target
audiences
Create
messaging
Choose
activities
Set
objectives
Aligning all
engagement activity
to engagement
outcomes
Getting specific on
who you are engaging
and what they care
most about in order
to connect with them
Considering
inspirational key
messages, and who
your target audience
will listen to
Selecting the best
method to deliver
your message to the
target audience to
have the greatest
measurable impact

Example:
Messaging & activities
Bassin de la Dordogne biosphere reserve in France
created a new online story and social media activity
to meet the challenge of communicating to
residents across their large region.
Our new site has been built to the new brand
story . The headings and menus are intended as a
practical application of the recommendations of
the toolkit. They include references to
participation, celebration, discovery and the notion
of progression.
Visit the site:
http://biosphere-bassin-dordogne.fr/

Example plan:
Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve
To achieve our
engagement
goal of:
Showing people that Urdaibai biosphere reserve is a better way of life
We’ll engage:
(Target audience)
Residents of Guernika and Bermeo
By saying:
(Core messaging)
I am Urdaibai
• I am an important part, I have my role, I am a stakeholder
We are Urdaibai
• Our wellbeing is linked to the biosphere reserve
Urdaibai is ours
• Our heritage and future are connected
Through these
activities:
(Choose activities)
• The focus of this pilot is Urdaibai Day - a fair celebrating local culinary heritage, crafts, music, leisure, nature,
exhibitions, etc
• The build up to the day will target children in all Urdaibai schools, with a challenge that will be presented on the
day
• We will use social media to run a contest on ideas of how to make our biosphere reserve better, and share the
results on the day
• We’ll engage with local sport entities and celebrities to attend the Day and to act as role models for the biosphere
reserve

Implementing your plan
The toolkit exercise will give you options of ways
to engage stakeholders. You can choose which
one is most appropriate to implement.
Consider:
What resources are needed?
Include funds required, people and expertise, and
the time required to get your plan going
Which plan will give you the best impact?
Go back to your engagement objectives and
review each plan against your goals
Where are there quick wins?
Look for established channels or opportunities in
your local area to partner with
Thanking participants
Make sure you thank participants for their time and
insight. We have found that stakeholders enjoy the
opportunity to be involved in the creative process,
and often want to run similar exercises with their
own teams after!
Feel free to share the guide and toolkit materials
with your stakeholders - they may want to run
similar exercises with their own teams.
Send a follow up email to your stakeholders letting
them know you have valued their input!

Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
What common questions does the network have about our approach?
Hiiumaa, Estonia
and nature today

Frequently asked questions:
Brand & story
Why doesn’t the story talk more about
sustainable development?
Our brand and story are about the purpose and
benefits of the network and the biosphere reserve.
We have a contribution to make towards
sustainable development; to make our story
resonate with all stakeholders we need to be able
to inspire people with our purpose and not
attempt to explain everything about sustainability.
Why don’t we talk more about the value of the
biosphere reserve in tangible facts and ﬁgures?
The impact of biosphere reserves should be
shared with key audiences. Consider which
content is appropriate for which audience and that
stories are more memorable than numbers!
Some audiences do not respond well to the
“biosphere reserve” term. Can we change this?
We have found a varied opinion on this issue
across the network. It is something that the ICC
council is addressing as part of the wider MAB
strategy. For now for consistency we use the term
“biosphere reserve” in this guide.
How do we live the values in our team?
The values are the behaviours that we see across
the entire network of biosphere reserves. We use
our values to guide how we do everything we do -
from how we work with our partners, to how we
how we behave on a daily basis. Our values give
us a framework to help make sure our culture and
way of doing things stays consistent and strong.

Stakeholder sessions
Who should we invite to our stakeholder
session?
Consider a range of participants who you believe
to be engaged or willing to get involved. They will
be most helpful to get quality outcomes - the
sessions are not designed to convince
stakeholders about the MAB, but to co-create
solutions. 10-15 participants is a good size for the
session.
Who should run the stakeholder session?
We have made the process as simple as possible
to allow you to run the session without external
support - however you might find it helpful to have
an external facilitator run the session for you.
What happens if we run out of time in the
session?
Try to keep to the time set out in the agenda, and
give the working groups warning of when their
time is up. If groups do not complete their
worksheets in time you should still have initial
ideas to build on.
How do we measure the impact of our
engagement?
The toolkit exercise asks participants to consider
how to measure impact. Try to choose qualitative
and quantitative measurements where you can
demonstrate a shift over time.

Using the UNESCO logo
Can partners use the UNESCO name and/or the
MAB logo on their products?
There are strict rules to using the UNESCO name
and logo. Under no circumstances can the
UNESCO-MAB logo be used for commercial
purposes. The sale of goods or services bearing
the name, acronym, logo or internet domain
names of UNESCO for profit is regarded as
commercial use.
Commercial use of the name, acronym, logo or
internet domain names of UNESCO, in whatever
form, is subject to a special and specific
contractual arrangement expressly authorised by
the Director-General of UNESCO.
How do we get our own UNESCO-MAB logo?
Biosphere Reserves and National Committees are
invited to contact the UNESCO Secretariat in order
to obtain the appropriate logo.
Can we create our own identities?
There are great examples of biosphere reserves
who have used creative approaches to the identity
of their region.
Check out the communication platform to find
inspiration - and consider the UNESCO name/logo
use guidance before you commission any new
identity for your biosphere reserve.

Photo credits
Front cover: Manicouagan-Uapishka Biosphere, Canada
Photo by the Manicouagan-Uapishka Biosphere
All rights reserved
Page 4: Brighton & Hove and Lewes Biosphere, UK
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksie2008/
Used under Creative Commons
Page 8: Biosphère du bassin de la Dordogne, France
Photo by EPIDOR
All rights reserved
Page 12: Urdaibai Biosphere, Spain
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrenetxea/
Page 26: Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmcwhinney/
Page 27: Dublin Bay Biosphere, Ireland
https://www.flickr.com/photos/walhalla/
Page 40: Hiiumaa, Estonia
https://www.flickr.com/photos/visitestonia/
This page: Nordhordland, Norway
https://www.flickr.com/photos/latt/

On the cover: Manicouagan-Uapishka Biosphere, Canada
This guide was created by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere
programme and Within People
www.withinpeople.com
With the generous support of four pilot biosphere reserves in the
EuroMAB network
This guide and toolkit materials may be shared freely across the
UNESCO MAB network and our partners
Copyright 2015 UNESCO

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